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Woodlands News 26 May 2023
Can you believe we have reached the half term so quickly? This means we only have half a term until the end of the school year and then there will be lots of changes. But as we all know as adults, with change comes a refreshing excitement, new ideas and yes, some nervousness. Here in Woodlands we are very mindful of supporting your children through transitions. I spent a lot of Tuesday with the new Head-to-be of Woodlands, Mrs Pritchard. She is just the right person to be taking over the reins and moving Woodlands into its next chapter.
But until then, there is lots of fun, learning and work to be enjoyed.
Here is what’s been going on this week:
We have observed that a clear favourite of many of our Orange Class children is vehicles. So this week we were ‘On The Road’.
During ‘choosing times’ we explored vehicles in paint, wheels in playdoh, shape collages, hot wheels tracks and built child-size role play cars. On Monday we were busy with our ‘Special Adults In The House Event’ and PE. (Take a look at the pictures of happy children with their special adults below.)
Tuesday found us investigating in the car park, looking for car badges and reading number plates.
On Wednesday it was all about the Beechwood minibus, everybody climbed aboard to explore and sing some vehicle related songs! Thank you to Simon Andrews for organising this for us and to Simon Harvey for being our tour guide. Perhaps some of us will be riding the bus home next year.
Onto Thursday, where possibly our favourite activity took place… washing the teachers’ cars. This was busy, messy and great fun. We can highly recommend it as a half term job at home (as long as you are not too precious about the whole car being clean!)
By Friday, we were ready for the half term break, but still had time to focus on reading vehicle books, building from various construction toys and cutting out our favourite vehicles to create collages. What a brilliant half term you have had Orange Class – we are all proud of you.
This week in Green Class we have been continuing our Growing Theme. We have really been impressed and amazed by how quickly our beans have grown.
‘They grow and grow and grow so you can climb them.’ commented one child! We have also been exploring in and around the woods using our observational skills to look for signs of growth. The children have been learning and using some super plant terminology, discussing the ‘shoots’ and ‘buds’ and sharing their knowledge of the young apple trees near the Woodlands garden. Definitely some aspiring gardeners in our midst! Well done Green Class – we are equally proud of you all.
We have also shared some pictures with you of the Woodlanders enjoying being outside in the fresh air and much awaited sunshine. No one can deny that Beechwood is one of the best places to be on a sunny day!
Wishing every Woodlander a happy, sunny and safe half term week.
Shirley Hayman
Head of Woodlands
Award winning Gravett has published a stunner in the form of ‘10 Dogs’. Easily dismissed as ‘another’ animal counting book, this new publication is a delight. Her endearing illustrations extend the simple counting to 10, so that it presents number bonds to 10; 9-1, 8-2… by encompassing them in such a simple book, children will be subtly immersed in the number bond relationships. All-in a fabulous book for those starting to get their heads around numbers.